On Tuesday, the Boston Public Health Commission voted to remove its indoor masking mandate. As a church, Symphony was not legally bound to follow this mandate, but we chose to do so in light of infection and hospitalization rates in Boston, to create a safe worship environment for our congregation, and to love our more immediate neighbors. It has been our desire to move towards making masks optional for our large group gatherings and we believe that now, given the very high vaccination rate of our congregation (>95%), the decline of key COVID metrics, and the CDC’s most recent guidance, we can take the step to make our large group worship services mask-optional, effective immediately. We welcome your questions even as we look forward to seeing your smiling faces!
We will continue to broadcast our large group services and prayer gatherings for our virtual congregation and those who are unable to attend in-person. Micro-churches will make their own decisions as a group based upon the particular needs of their own members (e.g., immunocompromised members, general health, travel, etc.). Navigating through this pandemic has been a long process of adjusting and readjusting to new contexts and situations but I’m thankful to be able to journey together as a church. Let’s continue to operate with love and grace, as one body, for God’s Kingdom!